Idea Transcript
DOC TOR A L T H E S I S
ISSN 1402-1544 ISBN 978-91-7583-876-2 (print) ISBN 978-91-7583-877-9 (pdf) Luleå University of Technology 2017
John Prpicć Specifying and Operationalizing an Organizational Theory of Crowdsourcing
Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences Division of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering
Specifying and Operationalizing an Organizational Theory of Crowdsourcing
John Prpicć
Industrial Marketing
DOCTORAL THESIS
Specifying and Operationalizing an Organizational Theory of Crowdsourcing
March 28, 2017 John Prpić
Faculty of Business Administration, Technology, and Social Sciences Luleå University of Technology 1
Printed by Luleå University of Technology, Graphic Production 2017 ISSN 1402-1544 ISBN 978-91-7583-876-2 (print) ISBN 978-91-7583-877-9 (pdf) Luleå 2017 www.ltu.se
Acknowledgements
This thesis is dedicated to Anne, Kathy, Mario, and my entire wonderful family. On all levels, none of this would have been possible without your interminable love, support, and inspiration. Undying gratitude and immeasurable thanks to Jan Kietzmann, Leyland Pitt, Åsa Wallström, Esmail Salehi-Sangari, and my classmates at Luleå for making this journey possible, and for doing so with exceptional grace, skill, and verve. Big love, thanks, and respect, to my research collaborators from whom I have learned so much in every facet of research. Very special thanks to Prashant and Yamini Shukla for being amazing friends and uniquely wonderful people. Very special thanks to James Dean and Vivek Dehejia for being great friends and inspiring role models in my academic endeavours. Very special thanks to Izak Benbasat for allowing the seed of these ideas to develop in his class. Very special thanks to the community of faculty, staff, and students at SFU and the Beedie School of Business, and UBC and the Sauder School of Business, for inculcating the quest for excellence.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Despite rapid developments across multiple areas of research and practice, an organizational-level theory of Crowdsourcing has yet to emerge. Objectives: Therefore, this thesis has two major objectives; 1) specify the boundaries, constructs, and relationships of an organizational-level theory of Crowdsourcing, and 2) begin the theoretical validation process by operationalizing the theory for new exploratory, explanatory, and conceptual research. Methods: In respect to the first objective, an organizational-level theory of Crowdsourcing is created through inductive processes based upon observations of the real-world, and the extant organizational literature. In respect to the second objective, a mixed-methods research design is implemented to present three separate studies that use the theoretical perspective as a lens to operationalize new exploratory, explanatory, and conceptual Crowdsourcing research. Results: The Crowd Capital perspective is introduced, and defines three new constructs for the Crowdsourcing research; Dispersed Knowledge, Crowd Capability, and Crowd Capital. Crowd Capital theory is shown to be a valid theoretical contribution in the management research by illustrating the perspective’s incremental originality and scientific utility. Conclusion: The thesis develops and validates an organizational-level theory explaining how and why organizations implement Crowdsourcing, and through the exploratory and explanatory operationalizations of the Crowd Capital perspective, this work contributes to the empirical knowledge-base in the Crowdsourcing research. Further, this thesis contributes methodologically by illustrating and implementing a mixed-methods research design for theory validation in the Crowdsourcing research, while also supplying managers and executives with detailed guidance on the trade-offs inherent to the different modalities of Crowdsourcing. Thesis Organization: This thesis is organized in a monograph format comprised of eight chapters; 1) Introduction, 2) Literature review, 3) Theoretical model, 4) Methodology, 5) Exploratory research, 6) Explanatory research, 7) Conceptual research, and 8) Conclusion. As an outcome of this thesis, three journal articles and five conference proceedings have been accepted in peer-reviewed outlets1, and the author has been awarded a mini-track about Crowdsourcing at one of the most prestigious conferences in the field. The articles and the conference mini-track details are listed in Appendix A & B at the end of the dissertation.
1
Altogether, said works have been cited a total of 185 times to date, per Google Scholar, and parts of the thesis are adopted verbatim from said articles.
1. INTRODUCTION Motivating and Explaining the Research Design. 1.1 Research Design…...………………….....................................................................2 1.2 Remainder of the Thesis……………………………………………………………3
2. LITERATURE REVIEW The State of the Crowdsourcing Research. 2.1 The Origins of Crowdsourcing Research…………………………………………..7 2.2 Crowdsourcing Modalities.……………………………...…………………………8 2.2.1 Virtual Labor Markets……………………………………………………9 2.2.2 Tournament Crowdsourcing…………………..…………………….........9 2.2.3 Open Collaboration………………………………………………………10 2.3 Relative Comparison of Crowdsourcing Modalities.…………………...………….10 2.3.1 Cost……………………………………………………………………….11 2.3.2 Anonymity………………………………………………………………..11 2.3.3 Scale of Crowd Size..……………………………………………………..12 2.3.4 IT Structure……………………..…………………………………...........13 2.3.5 Time to implement………………….…………………………………….13 2.3.6 Task Magnitude…………………….……………………………………..14 2.3.7 Reliability of the Crowd……………………………………..…………....14 2.3.8 Section Summary…………….…………………………………………...15 2.4 Related Research…………………………………………………………………....15 2.5 Crowdsourcing in Organizational Practice…………………………………............16 2.5.1 In-House Crowdsourcing…………………....……………………….…...16 2.5.2 Crowdsourcing Intermediaries…………………….……………………...16 2.5.3 Crowds in IT-Mediated Marketing……………………………………….17 2.6 Are Crowds Wise?.....................................................................................................18 2.7 Chapter Summary.……………………………………………………...…………..20
3. THEORETICAL MODEL IT-Mediated Absorptive Capacity Through Crowd Capital. 3.1 Dynamic Capabilities……………………………………………………….……..21 3.1.1 Routines……….………………………….…………………………......21
3.1.2 Resources………………………………………………………….…...22 3.1.3 Hierarchy of Capabilities ………………………………………..…. ...22 3.1.4 Absorptive Capacity Theory…………..…………………………….....23 3.1.5 Section Summary……………………………………………………....25 3.2 Crowd Capital Theoretical Perspective………………………………………….26 3.2.1 Boundaries of the Crowd Capital Perspective….………………….…..26 3.2.2 Constructs of the Crowd Capital Perspective …….…………………...28 3.2.2.1 Dispersed Knowledge.……………….………………………28 3.2.2.2 Crowd Capability………………………………………….....30 3.2.2.2.1 Content……………………………………………..30 3.2.2.2.2 IT Structure…………………………………….…...31 3.2.2.2.3 Processing…………………………………………..31 3.2.2.3 Crowd Capital………………………………………………...32 3.2.3 Types of Crowdsourcing Work………………………………………....33 3.3 Chapter Summary…………………………………………………………………35
4. METHODOLOGY Theory Validation Through Mixed Methods Research. 4.1 Theory in Management Research………………………………………………....37 4.1.1 Delimiting Theory……………………………..………………………..37 4.1.2 Defining Theory in the Management Research.………………………...37 4.1.3 Defining Theoretical Contribution in the Management Research…..….38 4.1.3.1 Originality………………………………………………….....39 4.1.3.2 Utility…………………………………………………............39 4.2 Research Design……………………………………………………......................40 4.2.1 Types of Research……………………………………………………....40 4.2.2 Using Theoretical Frameworks…………………………………………41 4.2.3 Mixed Methods Research……………………….……………………....42 4.2.4 Multiple Operationalizations…….……………………………………...42 4.2.5 Triangulation……………………………………….…………...............43 4.3 Research Quality…………………………………………………………….…....45 4.3.1 Research Quality in this Thesis …….…………………………………..46 4.3.1.1 Establishing Scientific Utility………………………………...48 4.3.1.2 291
Full Regression
9.4 Appendix D- Crowd Capital from Crowdsourcing Contests - Probit Regression 2
Contest Victory (winning a prize) - Conditional Upon Participation Geographic Variables Winners Male1 ContinentAfrica ContinentAsia ContinentLatinAmerica ContinentNorthAmerica ContinentOceania
Contest Design
Full Regression
0.0072 -0.802 0.0697*** 0 0.0011 -0.777 -0.0285
0.0726 -0.285 0.2286 -0.203 -0.0508 -0.48 -0.3508** -0.004 0.0985 -0.474 0.2062 -0.669 -0.005 -0.862 0.0750*** 0 0.0005 -0.901 -0.0175
-1.7661*** 0 7131
-0.767 0.08 -0.211 -0.1376 -0.097 -0.0208 -0.788 -2.0705*** 0 7131
-0.855 0.0803 -0.212 -0.1507 -0.07 -0.0213 -0.782 -1.9773*** 0 7131
** p